AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s a good point,” he says.
“I want to leave our children a better inheritance than we were given.”
I feel him stiffen and sit up to look down at him. He has a panicked look on his face.
“Our children?” he asks. “Plural? Is there more exciting news you’d like to share?”
I swat at him and giggle. “No, Mr. Sidorov,” I tell him. “But we probably will have more children one day, and they deserve better. I think we should move. If not now, at least eventually. We should give them a fighting chance away from the city.”
He tilts my chin up for a kiss and sighs against my lips.
“You’re incredibly smart, Mrs. Sidorov.” He sighs. “No wonder they gave you that big fancy degree.”
EPILOGUE
FOUR YEARS LATER
Ivan
My twin daughters, Aubrey and Autumn, open their little eyes and squint at me. They’re just a few weeks old, so being awake is still a bit overwhelming to them. And I’m not the mom, not the milk factory they expect when they wake up. But I know in this infant stage their only concerns are eating, sleeping, and pooping. Once they’re old enough to recognize faces, they’ll love me as much as I love them.
And I do love them with all my heart. Well, with all the heart I have that isn’t consumed by their mother and their older sister. But these two are special because they ensured that Dimitri would never speak to us again.
When Kat found out she was pregnant for the second time, we were thrilled, so in love with our little girl and excited to bring her a sibling to love on. Ever since Lily could talk, she’s been asking us for another baby. I don’t have any idea where that thought came from, but she constantly asked Kat when she would have another baby.
Lily was over the moon when she found out Kat was pregnant. She screamed and cried with joy when we sat her down and told her that she was finally getting the little baby she wanted. She loved sitting on Kat’s lap and listening to her stomach.
“That’s my baby in there,” Lily would say in her sweet, three-year-old voice.
Kat would always laugh and kiss Lily on the top of her head, so in love with our daughter and ready for another one.
Then we found out there wasn’t just one baby, there were two, and things were a bit more complicated. Kat cried for days, a mix of pregnancy hormones and anxiety. She was thrilled to be having twins, but she was also afraid of the havoc they would wreak on her body.
I reminded her that we were in this together, and even though I couldn’t experience the daily pains and challenges of pregnancy, I would be there to support her however I could. It wasn’t an easy pregnancy by any means. Kat had to go on bed rest at twenty-five weeks to ensure our little miracle babies could develop fully.
Like with Lily, we decided not to know the sex until the babies were born. It was more exciting that way. And then, a few weeks ago, these two little angels came into the world, screaming their heads off.
When Dimitri found out that we had two more daughters, he called me to curse me out.
“More daughters?” he’d asked incredulously. “You have brought more useless girls into the world! My daughter is being punished for disobeying me.”
I didn’t tell Kat about the phone call. She hadn’t spoken to her father since Lily turned one, and I didn’t think she needed the stress of dealing with her psychopath of a father.
My girls are not useless, they’re perfect and sweet. Of course, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if they cried at separate times. Like clockwork, they both start screaming at me, berating me in their little baby way for not being their mom.
Kat rushes into the room and picks up Aubrey while I take Autumn and try to soothe her. Breastfeeding has been a challenge for Kat since there are two of them to deal with, so she’s been pumping every day and putting her milk in bottles. That way we can both be in charge of feeding them.
They still prefer her, though.
We cradle our girls together, rocking them back and forth and singing them an old Russian lullaby. They down their milk hungrily, then cry to be burped. I’d forgotten how needy babies can be. I was so used to Lily being a potty-trained toddler who eats solid food, I glossed over these long, sleepless nights.
“What were you doing in here?” Kat asks sweetly when our girls have finally settled down.
I look down at Autumn and smile, loving the way her little eyes are heavy with sleep already.
“I just like to watch them sometimes,” I tell her. “They’re so tiny.”
She laughs quietly and eyes me with admiration.
